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They Shoot To Kill
e remember when
white policemen began open season on killing young Black Men for no rea- sons at all. You remember when mayors, police chiefs and law makers were being called upon to review police procedures and training to make sure both of them were in order. Blacks knew that they were unfair and kept calling for something to be
done.
Everybody knew what the problems were. The first problem is the age-old, worn out theory that the police must shoot to kill. If the po- lice wasn’t going to shoot, the theory is don’t pull his pistol.
That in itself is telling the officer to shoot to kill. Then there is the police officer who once he pinned that badge on and strapped on his gun he has the power to determine who lives and who dies and
the police department will hold him harmless for what- ever he does. I ask you, is not that giving an officer the op- portunity, not the right, to kill.
The policy-makers have got to stop these useless killings under the heading of don’t pull it if you aren’t going to use it or shoot to kill. Let’s all think about it. Would it be so bad if the po- lice didn’t shoot to kill unless it was absolutely without a doubt necessary to shoot to kill?
I wonder if the law ever tried to solve a possible dan- gerous situation without killing a Black.
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If Push Came To Shove?
magine: you are behind the counter in a conven-
ience store when all of a sudden, a young man rushes in, runs up to the counter, pulls out a butcher knife, hunting knife, gun, a stick or a brick, and yells at the top of his lungs, “Give it up!” THINK FAST! WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Would you raise your hands and give him whatever he wanted? Would you ask the assailant politely, “Can’t we please just get along? Would you drop to your knees and pray like you’d never prayed before? Or would you close your eyes, raise your gun that you keep under the counter and . . ?!
But now consider that the person standing behind the counter is your son, daughter, husband, wife, good friend, grandchild or great grandchild. What would you suggest they do in a situation of self-defense? As you know, our questions come from a recent incident wherein an Arab-American store clerk shot and killed an alleged would-be robber who approached him with a butcher knife.
Some members of the Black Community were in an uproar, even threatening to seek deportation proce- dures on the store employee. Though we are saddened to sickness over the death of the young, Black male, we ask others who stand in judgment of the store clerk, “Given the circumstances, if push had come to shove, and it had been you behind the counter, what would you have done?”
White Ice Is Always Colder
his week there has been
a tremendous amount of controversy surrounding the so-called "whitewashing" of this year's Academy Award nominations. Out of the 6 main award categories, in- cluding: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Ac- tress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, not one body of work involv- ing a Black face was deemed suitable for Oscar considera- tion.
The exclusion wasn't a matter of there not being any qualified options from which to choose. Will Smith's movie Concussion,” direc- tor F. Gary Gray's “Straight Outta Comp- ton,” and Idris Elba's “Beasts Of No Nation,” were all critically acclaimed features that did well at the box office. Yet neither of these productions were thought worthy of recogni- tion.
Now, because of this bla- tant snubbing, individuals like Jada Pinkett-Smith and Spike Lee are calling for Black people everywhere to not attend or even watch the event, a course of action that I'm not quite sure is worth the energy.
The question is, should Black people really get them- selves worked up over who the Academy chooses to give their golden trophies? On top of the fact that the issue doesn't make the smallest bit of difference in the life of the average Black person to begin with, those orchestrat- ing the selections never seem to get it right anyway.
Over the years the deci- sion-makers behind the scenes have shown us time and time again what kind of Black performances they prefer. Denzel Washing- ton didn't win his best actor nod for his realistic portrayal of the iconic Malcolm X. Instead, he won it for playing a crooked cop.
Viola Davis took hers home for her perfect por- trayal of a foul-mouth do- mestic. Lupita N'yong’o received the trophy after her role as a slave. Monique's came courtesy of the heart- less, abusive, welfare-receiv- ing character she pulled off. And who could ever forget the night we all had to squirm through the live per- formance of the song "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" that earned the group Three 6 Mafia their
Oscar honor?
The Academy doesn't
have a history of honoring Black performers for show- ing complexity. They only applaud when the big screen shows us in the fashion they feel most comfortable watch- ing.
You would think that, by now, Black Hollywood actors and actresses would be well over jumping through hoops while looking for approval from white Hollywood. I am certain that most of these stars have enough B.E.T, Soul Train and NAACP Image awards to fill several trophy cases. But I guess, in their eyes, the accolades and trinkets they receive from their own just don't shine as bright.
At some point, I imagine, Blacks will eventually wake up and realize that every- thing created for and by white people isn't necessarily the “must have” object we've been accustomed to cherish. But, until then, those of us who know better will have no choice but to sit back and watch as certain individuals continue to make fools of themselves while standing and waiting for a seat at a table, where they've long been shown, they're not re- ally wanted.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: reality- onice@yahoo.com.
Sarah Palin Gives Trump A Kiss: Is It A Kiss Of Life Or Death?
n front of a very unlikely looking full-scale statue of
the late John Wayne, in an equally unlikely scenario played out to an unusually unlikely voting Iowa audi- ence – before a packed audience of Bible-belters, Don- ald Trump – seeming more like a medicine barker-carnie freak than ever before – shouting, “USA! USA!” he received the blessings of the Queen of Hearts Herself . . . none other than the Republican Party’s very own Princess, Sarah Palin.
CNN was aflame. Facebook overflowed, as Twitters tweaked, Instagrams coughed, and late night television hosts did a hoodoo dance around rumors of dire con- sequences for a red-faced Republican Party.
Indeed, everyone hooted and guffawed over Donald Trump’s new political romance, believable or unbeliev- able, except for four people who were deadly serious: Sarah “Off With Their Heads” Palin was her usual soc- cer-mom self; Donald Trump swelled so large he re- sembled a blimp-sized comedian W. C. Fields without the cigar; the Republican Party tried heroically to paint a smiling-face on a stupid situation. And then there was the Duke himself, tall, silent, and imposing, a statue of a day and time that never existed except in the minds of adolescent cowboy fans and Tea Partiers.
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